Alaska State Troopers: No support for story of satanic slayings

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- An accused teen killer's story of participating in many slayings while part of a satanic cult in Alaska does not match any unsolved crimes, investigators say.

Miranda Barbour, 19, charged in Pennsylvania with joining her husband in the thrill killing of a man they met on Craigslist, told the Sunbury (Pa.) Daily Item last week she had been involved in at least 22 killings.

Alaska State Troopers, the Anchorage Police Department and other law enforcement agencies have been swamped with calls since the story broke, the Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday.

Barbour spent much of her early life in Alaska, living in North Pole and Mat-Su and going to high school in Palmer. But officials say there is no evidence to back up her story of belonging to a satanists group or being involved in homicide.

"At this time the Alaska State Troopers are not aware of any information -- beyond Barbour's comments quoted in the press -- or evidence that would implicate Barbour with a homicide committed in Alaska," AST spokeswoman Megan Peters said in an email.

Barbour and her husband, Elytte Barbour, married last October in North Carolina, where they were living when they met. They were arrested in Sunbury, a small city on the Susquehanna River 100 miles north of Philadelphia, after the body of Troy LaFerrara was found in an alley there.

Investigators said the couple decided they wanted the experience of killing someone together and placed an ad on Craigslist offering Barbour's sexual services.

Northumberland County Prosecutor Tony Rosini told the Item his investigators had been in touch with other agencies and had found nothing to support Barbour's story of being a serial killer.

The FBI and Anchorage Police released statements Tuesday saying they were also checking out Barbour's story.

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